


Obligatory Mermaid Burrcules

by scrawly_times



Category: Hamilton - Miranda, Hamilton - Miranda (Broadway Cast) RPF
Genre: M/M, Nonbinary Marquis de Lafayette, Other, Slow Burn, john is going for his marine biology major, laf does whatever a laf does, mermaid aaron burr, mermaid au, they're all college age
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-08 03:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12246060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrawly_times/pseuds/scrawly_times
Summary: They have really got to stop making new friends by finding them washed up in a tide pool after storms. Though to be fair, last time John got a boyfriend out of it, and this time Herc might be getting a boyfriend out of it too. If Aaron ever manages to learn English. Or, you know, come out of this experience with his life, hide, and dignity intact.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> haha this is very self-indulging but FUCK IT, time to torture myself with slow burrn 
> 
> I am... a nerd, especially with anatomy and animals in general, so if you'd like some anatomically correct mermaids hmu
> 
> Laf is nonbinary and uses ve/her/vis pronouns. And if they don't seem too surprised to find that *gasp* MERMAIDS ARE REAL it is because Alex is a mermaid and they've already gone thru this song and dance with his dramatic ass

Hercules loved the smell of the beach after a storm.

The air was cleaner, fresher. The beaches smelled even saltier than usual and seaweed fresh from the waves was washed up everywhere.

However he did _not_ like what tended to wash up after storms.

So much trash and junk got flung up on the beach that Hercules and his friends had long since made a tradition of going out and cleaning up after storms. There also tended to be numerous animals left high and dry to rescue- though by the time they got there, it was usually too late.

This storm had lasted well into the middle of the night though. By the time they got out early in the morning it had only passed a few hours ago.

Lafayette usually liked just poking around for trinkets and getting the trash off the beach. _John_ practically sprinted up and down the beach with his shovel trying to save the countless jellyfish littering the beach. Herc usually left them to John- he was more worried about the seagulls eating trash and strangling themselves.

The light was very low, it was cloudy and the sun hadn’t risen yet, so Herc had difficulty picking his way through the sand and rocks without falling over something. The tidepools tended to get nets and chunks of plastic stuck in them the most and he didn’t see any obvious trash anywhere on the beach that Laf wasn’t headed towards.

The storm had been pretty bad last night. John had sat in their apartment and fretted and worried for hours until Laf and Herc forced him to go to sleep. It was understandable that he’d be worried about his boyfriend getting caught up in the storm (again) but there wasn’t much of a point in staying up all night getting more anxious.

Hercules almost missed the net tangled up in the rocks as he got further away from the shore and closer to the cliffs. There were a couple of really deep tidepools around here that he was more focused on not falling into. He did notice it luckily, when he slipped on a patch of seaweed and caught himself on the rock outcrop it was wrapped around.

Once he caught his balance, Herc gave the net a closer look. It was tight and strained against the rocks it was tangled up on. He circled the outcropping warily. Something seemed off…

The rocks hid a tide pool and a deep recess into the stone that looked almost like the beginning of a cave. The net was caught up to the top of the rocks and hung over the edge of the recess with a large body trapped in it.

He gasped when he realized just _what_ was trapped in the net. It was hard to see with the low light and the net wrapped around it, but the shape of a long tail and upper body were unmistakeable.

“LAF! JOHN!” Hercules wasted no time yelling for backup as he stepped over the rocks towards the mermaid.

His face twisted up in concern. The water was shallow in half the tidepool and the mermaid was suspended in the air, one arm hanging loose and barely resting in the few inches of water available. If the mermaid was still hanging there by the time the sun came out they would be dried out in no time.

The net was primarily twisted up around their tail, curved over and raised in the air. Strands of the rough plastic bit into scales - skin? - painfully and Herc scowled. A shark net. Of _course._ The mermaid’s upper body was also tangled and bent at awkward angles.

When he got close enough to run his hands over the net and try to figure out if he’d need his knife to cut it he realized what kind of mermaid this was. The tail was covered in dark gray hide with a bright underbelly that contrasted beautifully with their dark brown skin. Herc paused in amazement.

He wasn’t aware mermaids could also be half _shark._ He probably should’ve assumed, really, but it had never crossed his mind. But now he was even more worried. Herc knew shark nets were responsible for thousands of shark deaths, but if _mermaids_ were getting caught up in them John was going to throw a _fit._ And Herc and Laf would join him.

Herc gasped when he realized that the dark skin of their human half was dripping blood. The net was twisted up so tight it was cutting into their skin. He swallowed and pulled out his multitool.

The mermaid barely reacted as he began to trace their skin with his fingers, looking for a place he could cut the net away without risking cutting into them. Their skin twitched where he brushed up against it but he didn’t think they were conscious enough to move any further. He searched for a safe place to start cutting sooner. Their skin was dry and they were probably close to suffocating.

“Herc! What is it? Where are you?” John’s voice echoed over the rocks as he finally began sawing away at the tough plastic.

“Over here!” He said loudly and cursed. Shark nets weren’t supposed to be made out of plastic for this very damn reason!

 _“Merde!”_ Laf reached him and saw what was going on first, rushing over the rocks and dropping vis trash bag.

John’s entrance was a lot more obvious and he burst into a stream of spanish cursing that would have had Herc turning his head on any other occasion. Right now he couldn't agree more.

“Shark net.” Herc said, grimacing as he snapped a few strands that had gotten wrapped around the mermaids neck and gills. John’s cursing got louder.

“Hold them up in the air, _mon ami,_ we can cut the net down from the top and get them down in the water sooner.” Laf said sensibly, climbing up the rocks and pulling out a pocketknife. Beach excursions had all of them carrying pocket tools of some sort.

“Good idea,” Herc hesitated as he considered how to even approach _doing_ that though. “John, I think I’ll need help once Laf cuts the net free.” John stepped into the shallow water, still grumbling and face set into a stony glare.

Hercules was strong enough to carry the mermaid but he didn’t know where the tail would fall once the net stopped suspending it. And that was a _very_ long tail.

Laf nearly stabbed visself trying to get the plastic cut away but between the three of them they soon had the mermaid cut down and lowered them into the deeper part of the tidepool. Deep was relative - it was only a foot deep, at the most, but it was deep enough that they could splash it over dried skin and cracking gills. Then came the difficult task of cutting away bloody net strands and untangling them.

* * *

 

Burr remembered being out at sea when the storm hit. He knew he should leave, should get away from shore before it got too rough to swim in, but his _friend_ \- practically his _child_ \- had gotten caught in those wretched nets. He’d told the sharks in the area _time and time again_ to stay away from the nets by shore, in fact stay away from the shore _altogether,_ but Theo was always a curious pup.

Her mother had been Burr’s best friend since his childhood. Some sharks lived a long time and he’d expected his Theodosia to live long into his adulthood. But of course humans had killed her and life in the ocean was hard on the pups she left behind, even with Burr watching after them. Theo was the only one left.

He couldn’t leave her. He couldn’t _bear_ to just swim away to save his own hide knowing that the storm currents would just wrap the net tighter and tighter around Theo until she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, until her hide was sliced into and she slowly suffocated and died in the worst way possible for a shark.

Burr remembered pulling and tugging at the net, ripping into it frantically with claws and teeth as the storm approached. _Finally_ Theo swum free and he moved to swim after her but the waters were too dark and his tail fin was entangled in a section he’d just ripped free of the rest.

After that things got a little fuzzy. He remembered the feeling of being trapped and twisting frantically, ripping and pulling as much as he could but unable to stop the currents from spinning him around and tangling him up until he couldn’t move. He remembered being flung around and hitting one of the floating contraptions humans left near the surface. Then everything went dark.

When he woke up he couldn’t breathe. It was dark and opening his eyes hurt, but he forced them open. Burr felt impossibly heavy and crushed, skin halfway between numbness and splitting _pain_ eveywhere.

Heaviness. A strange sticky feeling on his eyes and skin. Burr’s gills flared and he couldn’t feel the reassuring rush of water between the flaps of skin. He wheezed, trying to flail around and figure out where he was. He was _above water,_ that much he could tell, he’d heard too many stories. But what had happened? Where was he? Could he still reach water?

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want poor Theo left wandering the ocean for any random predator to pick her off. He didn’t want to dry out tangled up in a damned shark net where any  human could wander over and poke and prod him.

He was _very delirious_ and suffering from a concussion, not to mention hanging pretty much upside down with half his circulation starting to cut off. Burr only succeeded in thrashing around tiredly and exhausting himself until he passed out.

* * *

 

By the time the rain stopped and morning approached Burr was barely conscious, dozing on and off unintentionally. It took a minute or two before the loud noises around him and the hands brushing across his skin actually woke him up. His eyes flickered open but all he could see were shadowed rocks and he closed his eyes tiredly, trying to take stock.

He couldn’t help a tremor as large hands ran over his skin, tugging painfully at the net that cut into him. He wished he had the strength to move and protest whoever this was from _touching him_ but he barely had the strength to pull air into his underused lungs.

Mermaids weren’t supposed to breathe air. Their lungs were a backup method, it was said. A way to let them survive on land on the rare occasions they were trapped out of water. Burr’s gills were drying out and he’d never _used_ his lungs before and they weren’t strong enough to pull in near enough oxygen to keep him alive. They were keeping him alive, barely, but barely wasn’t enough.

He was struck with the thought that he was out of the water. It couldn’t possible be another mermaid whose hands were running over him. But Burr couldn’t really bring himself to care anymore. Clearly, he was going to die, and the human was satisfying their curiosity. It wasn’t like he could stop them anyways.

Burr wheezed painfully when the net suspending him jerked and pulled on his wounds, then realized that he was… moving. He felt a surge of fear when he was dropped and arms and hands circled him.

He didn’t have any time to panic after that as he was gently set in shallow water, something splashing the cooling liquid over his wounds and dried hide. The salt burned in a refreshing way even as he hissed in pain.

Burr thanked every deity he could think of as his gills flared tiredly and he could _breathe_ again. The hands continued running over him, but he didn’t protest them anymore. He could feel the strands of net being cut free and pulled away from his wounds.

Hercules was glad to see the mermaid’s gills flaring healthily when they were set in the water. He’d probably have to carry them to a safer location once John was sure they weren’t too badly injured, but for now the shallow water was the best they could offer.

John stood up when they’d torn most of it away, face still set in a dangerous scowl.

“I’m going to go get my first aid kit, I think he’s going to need stitches for some of these.” He scowled even deeper.

“He?” Laf said.

“Claspers,” John motioned towards the mermaid’s tail and shrugged. “Female sharks don’t have them. If he prefers anything else we can figure that out later.” He was studying to be a marine biologist and the closest to an expert they had at this so Laf and Herc just nodded as he left.

“Think he’ll be okay?” Herc sighed, wincing as he tugged some strands out of a particularly deep cut. The droplets of water dripping down his hide were tinged pink with blood at this point.

“I hope so, and hopefully Alexander can help once we get him back into the ocean.” Laf said. A minute later ve gasped and Herc jumped, seeing the mermaid’s arm moving tiredly. They both backed away a bit.

“Do you think he’s waking up?” Herc whispered.

“I would not be surprised, considering we have been poking and prodding him for half an hour at this point.” Laf said. “We have to be careful though. Remember Alex did not know English when we first found him in similar straits.” Herc nodded.

“Poor guy’s probably in a lot of pain.” He splashed a bit of water over the mermaid’s side that was above water and at risk of drying out. The mermaid twitched and moved again, rolling a bit.

Burr twisted, trying to ignore the intense pain just moving caused. He rolled over from his side to his stomach and cried out. The net had ripped itself deeply into the skin around one of his elbows. Now that it was gone feeling was starting to return to his left arm, but it hurt like hell to even put pressure on it.

Burr supported himself with his good arm, raising his head and peering partially out of the water unsurely. Two humans looked back at him and he swallowed. They looked wary, _concerned_ almost, but he wasn’t confident enough in human expressions to believe that they were the same as any mermaid’s.

Herc was glad to see him moving, but the mermaid looked dazed and afraid. “Hey, it’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you alright? We’re trying to help.”

Burr didn’t understand the noises that came out of the human’s mouth, but the tone was calm and relaxing. He sunk deeper into the water and hummed deeply.

“Does that mean anything?” Herc turned to Laf.

“Just because _petit lion_ has taught me to understand a _little bit_ of the language does not mean I can understand every little noise,” Laf rolled vis eyes. “But no, I believe that is just a wary noise telling us to keep our fucking distance.”

Herc huffed and looked at the mermaid. “My name is Herc.” He said clearly, putting his hand on his chest. “Herc.” He put a hand on Laf’s shoulder. “Laf.”

The mermaid’s glassy eyes seemed to clear up a bit, puzzling over that. He raised his entire head above the water, pausing unsurely before opening his mouth. “Hhhhhrck? Hhhhhff?” Burr tilted his head, trying to figure out how to repeat their noises.

Sound was so _different_ above water. And their language seemed to be a lot of… very loud noises in the mouth. No clicks or whistles, and the hums sounded very weird. He didn’t speak much in the first place. Talking in this weird way was making his throat hurt.

“Herc, Laf.” Laf joined in with a bright smile, pointing between them. Ve pointed at the mermaid curiously, exaggerating vis facial features.

Burr frowned. Were human expressions really the same? He didn’t know how to feel about that.

“Mmrrrrr,” He blinked and wheezed, coughing a moment and ducking his head back underwater. Once he was sure he had his breath he came back up to see the two humans looking worried. “Mm, mmmvvv,” He tried a few mixtures of sound before finally managing to find a way to say his name above water. “Bbrrrr.”

“Burr?” Herc enunciated. The mermaid made a slight face but nodded.

“Guys! Got it!” John yelled from nearby. Burr jerked and hid under the water as much as he could.

“Careful John, he’s kind of skittish.” Herc said loudly.

When John came climbing over the rocks into the tidepool he made sure to move slowly and keep his hands visible.

“Okay good, he’s awake.” John sighed in relief and crouched down nearby. He smiled carefully and put a hand to his chest. “John.” He said very obviously.

“He says his name is Burr.” Laf said. “I do not believe he understands English but charades has been working fairly well.”

“Zzhhh,” Burr hummed, frowning and wondering how the heck to make that ‘J’ noise.

“John.” The marine biologist repeated cheerfully and put his first aid kit down on a rock. “Hey Laf, can you run down to our usual meeting spot with Alex and see if you can find him? I think we’re going to need his help translating, not to mention I don’t feel comfortable just dumping Burr off in the ocean without someone helping him out.” John pulled a rag out and gave Burr a concerned look. “He seems really dazed. Wary but not as much as he probably should be. Concussion definitely, with that cut on the back of his head.”

Laf saluted and winked, standing up slowly so as not to spook Burr. “My wish is your command, _mon ami._ ”

Burr watched the tall human moving and they all noted the unfocused way his eyes followed Laf’s movement.

“Hurry,” Herc said worriedly. Laf obliged as fast as ve could without tripping and breaking an ankle.

“Alright, I’m going to need you to keep on guard and probably hold him down while I try to stitch him up.” John said and winced. “This probably won’t be pretty, but hopefully he realizes I’m trying to help.”

Burr certainly did not appreciate being threatened with a small pointy object. When John cleaned the dirt and sand out of the worst of the cuts he was pliant enough, but the second the needle was taken out he actually pulled his lips back and snarled at them. Herc nearly pulled John back but the college student was determined and _snarled back_ in a way he’d learned managing Alex’s touchy moods.

Burr pulled back in clear surprise and before he knew it John was carefully but quickly pulling a needle in and out of the thin skin on his elbow.

“Herc,” John bit out quickly and Herc moved to hold down Burr’s other arm.

The inside of his elbow was practically _flayed -_ it _needed_ stitches. John just hoped there wasn’t any damage to the tendons or blood vessels that he couldn’t deal with right now. Burr was not some savage animal, but any living being when threatened would lash out. And John really didn’t want to take himself or _Herc_ to the emergency room with chunks taken out of them. Burr’s teeth were definitely a proper set of shark teeth.

Luckily Burr was both dazed and weak enough to not be able to do much, especially not with Herc holding his good arm down so he couldn’t claw at them. He seemed panicked and outraged but as John worked Herc babbled nonsense in a calm voice to try and smooth things over.

When the humans finally let go of him and stopped pulling and tugging at the searing pain in his elbow Burr reflexively lashed out with his claws. Both were already out of his reach, giving him his space. He curled in on himself and snarled at them. But when he cradled his left arm and looked down to make sure they hadn’t done anything terrible to it he was surprised to find the gashes in his skin held together with small knots.

He looked up and squinted at them warily. The big one, who’d held him down, looked upset and very worried. They spoke at Burr with a concerned and apologetic tone and Burr felt the tension slowly bleed out of him. They’d helped him. He still ducked back below the water as much as he could, tired and unwilling to be poked again.

John sighed and looked at his tail worriedly. Nothing was quite as bad as the gashes on his elbow though. He could probably sew them up later.


	2. Patched Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexander makes an entrance. All Burr wants is sleep. The resident humans here are just really worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a ton for the nice comments!!!

Laf broke into a jog as soon as ve was in less danger of twisting an ankle on the rocks. The cove they usually met Alex at was usually a good half hour walk from this area. Ve managed to cover it in about half the time.

Laf slowed to a walk and sat down on the end of the private dock, catching vis breath and swinging vis legs.

The way ve’d met Alexander was strangely similar to this situation currently. Quite a few years ago a teenage John Laurens had dragged his best friends down to the beach after a storm to clean up the beach, sparking years of tradition. Just like this morning they’d found a rather bedraggled mermaid stuck high and dry in a tidepool.

_ Unlike _ this time, Alex hadn’t been injured or stuck in a net. He’d been panicked and terrified because the storm had reminded him of a hurricane he’d nearly died in. If it weren’t for his insatiable curiosity and dangerous fearlessness he probably would’ve continued to freak out as they wrangled him out of the tidepool and back to the ocean. It had been… a rather difficult process. Laf didn’t know how they would manage it with Burr being injured as he was.

Of course the language barrier had been a major difficulty at the time, but everyone was determined enough to teach Alex English over the years. Then Alex was stubborn enough to learn French from Laf and was now working on learning Spanish from John. Hercules swore they were trying to find ways to scheme without him being able to understand and stop them.

Unfortunately mermaid languages were literally impossible to speak above water and were kind of beyond the human vocal and auditory ability. Most of the language was either in whistles and clicks that a human couldn’t make, or at such a high/low pitch they literally couldn’t hear it. Laf and John were able to understand bits and pieces but couldn’t speak it.

They’d known Alexander for almost five years by now, ve mused. Through the later years of high school and the beginning of college. Time sure seemed to pass.

“Laf!” Alex said the second his head popped through the water. Lafayette grinned.

_ “Petit lion!” _ Ve cooed, crouching over the edge of the dock and then pausing when ve remembered ve was here for an important reason. “We have a… situation.”

“What kind of situation?” The mermaid asked, pushing himself up out of the water and propping himself up on the wooden slats.

“A mermaid situation.” Alex frowned. “ _ Oui, _ we found a mermaid in the tidepools. He was tangled up in a shark net and injured.”

Alex squinted, humming. “What was his lower half?”

“A shark, I do not know what kind. Gray colored? He looked kind of blue but that could be because it was only just starting to get light when I left. We played charades and he managed to say his name was Burr?”

Alex frowned and hummed again. “Burr? Brrrr, huh. Blue shark? Yeah I think I’ve seen that guy around..? Didn’t think he’d be close enough to shore to get caught up in the storm though. And a shark net?  _ Really? _ Geez,” Alex coughed and ducked underwater for a few seconds to breathe before coming back up. “That’s just really stereotypical of him. So what’s the plan?”

Laf couldn’t help a smirk. Alex might have taken ages to  _ learn _ English but once he did he never stopped  _ using _ it.

“John was trying to sew up a few really bad cuts before I left. Hercules and I managed to cut away the net. We’re going to see about getting him back into the ocean once John is sure he is strong enough.” Laf sighed and ran a hand over vis ponytail, checking for stray hairs. “He has a concussion at the very least.”

Alex hissed sympathetically. “Ow. And you guys’ll need me to help translate and or take care of him until he’s clear headed enough to take off on his own.”

_ “Oui.” _

“I can do that. How’re you guys going to get him over here?”

“I do not know,” Lafayette admitted. “It is too much of a run to carry him and we do not have any way of keeping him in - what is it - water with oxygen? All the way here.”

“And he’s probably not strong enough to swim here from the beach on his own, or he’ll probably try to swim off immediately.” Alex said and nodded. “How about we go find the beach closest to where he is and I’ll wait there? I can talk to him once you get him in the water and convince him to let John finish doctoring him.”

Laf beamed. “Yes that would be wonderful! Let me get my shoes off and I will swim with you there.”

Alex smiled, ear fins fluttering happily. His friends on land were always willing to jump in the water with him so he didn’t get left out. Even if it exhausted them in the process. Alex  _ really  _ appreciated it.

* * *

 

Burr wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He knew the sun had begun to rise and he was beginning to be  _ cramped _ of all things in this shallow pool on top of aching and feeling like his skin was shredded off.

The humans had fussed and hovered over him until he finally gave in and allowed them to close in and further their administrations. It hurt like hell but some of the bleeding was slowing down so they  _ were _ helping.

The smallest human wasn’t much of a threat but Burr was taken aback by their inability to be fazed. The largest human seemed… kind. Strong and vaguely threatening by the sheer fact that Burr was essentially at their mercy, but something about them had Burr almost willing to give in to his pain and exhaustion and  _ sleep. _

He knew better though. Regardless of their kindness so far he did not trust them. Humans were the reason he was  _ in _ this mess.

Burr looked up and hummed warily when the familiar lilting voice of the third human returned. They weren’t the biggest but they were certainly the tallest and their voice rose and fall in a different way than the others. When the tallest human finally appeared they were grinning and proceeded to let out a long stream of nonsense Burr couldn’t understand.

The other two seemed interested, looking at each other and then back to him. He resisted the urge to bare his teeth at them to make them stop staring.

There was some more hushed discussion before the biggest human approached with a calming smile. They spoke, likely more to get across their tone of voice rather than thinking Burr could understand them, motioning over the edge of the tide pool and pretending to pick something up. Burr blinked slowly at them. 

The smallest human with the patterns across their face brightened and the biggest human nodded, sweeping the smallest up and carrying them easily. They mimed walking out of the tide pool and set the small one down.

They wanted to move him out of here? He didn’t really see how he could stop them at this point, but if they wanted his approval that bad he would give it. He wanted out of this slowly warming water before the sun hit it.

Burr nodded and shakily tried pushing himself up, but found his good arm was too weak and his  _ bad _ arm was in no shape to be used. The smallest human started making worried sounds and crouched nearby. The biggest crouched nearby too and Burr made sure to stay very still and look non threatening as they picked him up.

He still groaned sharply in pain as the movement pulled at all the cuts and gashes in his hide. He closed his eyes and focused on trying to stop his shaking instead of thinking about the feeling of being carried out of the water, completely helpless, by a  _ human _ who was going to do god knows what to him. Why had he gone along with this again?

A familiar noise caught his attention and he twitched. Clicking, nearby, and above water? He opened his eyes blearily and watched in dull amazement as the humans rushed him towards an open beach. Connected to the ocean. 

And on the beach was another mermaid. 

He was  _ so  _ confused.

The humans carried him out into the waves until the water came up to about their waists and just enough for him to swim without scraping the bottom. The big one put him down in the water surprisingly gently, holding onto him until he started moving and pushed himself away painfully.

Burr drifted a short ways away and sank to the bottom, giving himself time to just rest and appreciate the feeling of being completely underwater and breathing properly again.

_ “Burr! Fancy seeing you here.” _

That was right- the other mermaid he’d seen circling them.

His eyes cracked open unbelievingly. Sure enough, Hamilton the loudmouth, arrogant bastard himself grinned toothily a few feet away.

_ “You’ve got to be kidding me.” _ Burr hummed, throat rasping uncomfortably.  _ “What..?” _ Thankfully Hamilton seemed to be willing to fill in the blanks, drifting closer concernedly.

_ “These humans are old friends of mine,” _ He said idly. He looked more focused on swimming around Burr and making sure he was okay.  _ “I trust them a lot, and for good reason wouldn’t you say? Are you okay?? Shit, Burr, you look terrible!” _ Hamilton shuddered and Burr agreed with a quiet whistle.

_ “I feel… better, now that I’m back in the water.” _ Burr ended up doing a slight shudder of his own. He didn’t think he’d ever forget how completely horrible and  _ helpless _ he’d felt above water. Hamilton hummed sympathetically.  _ “I’m… very tired.” _

Usually he wouldn’t say it out loud and to the face of a mermaid who seemed determined to live  _ just _ to annoy him, but Burr didn’t know if he could even swim out to sea on his own. He was so fucking  _ tired _ and in pain he just wanted to sink into the sandy sea floor until he disappeared.

_ “That would be why I’m here.” _ Hamilton smiled surprisingly gently.  _ “I know you probably don’t want to deal with them any more than you have to, but there’s a cove I visit them at all the time just around the corner. It’s private, no humans other than them ever go to it, and it’s the perfect place to rest up and let John finish patching you up.” _

_ “...John..?” _ He managed to mumble out. That sound was familiar but it rang weirdly underwater.

_ “The shortest one with the facial markings,” _ Hamilton drifted closer and frowned at him ear fins fluttering.  _ “Burr? You with me? You sound kind of…” _

Burr honestly didn’t even feel up to shrugging, whistling tiredly. Hamilton looked worried.

_ “I just… need somewhere to sleep.” _ Burr said, resisting the urge to just lay his head on his arms here in the shallows.

_ “The cove is a good place to sleep,” _ Hamilton said with all of his usual subtlety- that is to say  _ none.  _ Burr whistled uncaringly and Hamilton took him by his good arm, pausing only long enough to stick his head above the water and speak in the humans’ language for a moment.

Burr was almost twice Hamilton’s length and had to offer a little bit of momentum but after a few stiff, awkward tail strokes they were moving enough that Hamilton could just tug him along to steer. He kept up a quiet litany of commentary and encouragement along the way. Burr wasn’t sure if he was mad at Hamilton for keeping him from dozing off or glad. 

When they approached the cove Hamilton sped ahead and had a conversation with the humans above the water before swimming back and grabbing his arm cautiously.

_ “John says it should be okay for you to go to sleep, but he wants to check you over real quick for anything else that needs stitches. You alright with that?” _ Hamilton spoke slowly and carefully, as if Burr was unable to understand him. He scowled lightly but nodded, too tired to protest it anyways. 

He was carefully dragged over to the shallows where the humans were watching and waiting. The short one - Hamilton was right, they did have facial markings - waded into the water up to their waist and smiled encouragingly.

Burr sat tiredly in the water, ignoring their foreign conversation and prodding until Hamilton nudged him.

_ “John wanted to try and wrap up some of your wounds but realized his bandages would disintegrate in the water, but then I reminded him that mermaids use scrubbed seaweed as bandages and everyone went to go search the beach for some.”  _ Hamilton babbled quickly.  _ “I’m going to go search the cove for some too just stay here with John and try to keep your arm out of the sand okay?” _ The other mermaid was gone in a flash of color before he even had time to reply.

Burr checked his left arm. He was honestly hurting so much all over that it had all blended into a haze in his head, so he hadn’t noticed the extra pain when he’d been resting his arms on the ocean floor.

The human - John,  _ he _ according to Hamilton - was still standing nearby and acting as a buffer when the waves pushed Burr towards shore. John seemed to know the most about medicine in general, so Burr pushed himself up slowly until his head breached the waves. He was a lot less  _ heavy _ when the water held him up and he could easily do so with his good arm.

The human was staring directly at him, a concerned expression on his face. Burr ducked back below the surface reflexively and then took a deep breath through his gills.

When he poked his head back up John looked a little embarrassed to be caught staring, then curious when Burr pushed himself up and made a ‘come here’ motion with his head. All he had to do was lift up his bad arm above the water and John immediately pulled out a rag and started carefully brushing it off. 

Burr hissed and clenched his jaw tightly while the human dug into his arm in an effort to get bits of sand out. By the time he deemed it to meet his standards Hamilton was moving through the water and perched himself in the shallows next to them, offering some long strips of flat seaweed.

“Thanks Alex.” John smiled and Hamilton grinned at him.

Burr blinked and gave the other mermaid a considering look while John wrapped his arm. Hamilton’s decorated ear fins drooped oddly out of water but there was no mistaking the way he kept flashing them forwards and fluttering them.

Hamilton caught him staring and beamed, unashamed. Burr felt like sighing.

The awkward part came when John insisted they wrap some of the deeper cuts along his tail. Hamilton had to help since John could not breathe underwater  _ or _ see with all the salt - as Hamilton kept explaining, repeatedly. Burr wasn’t sure what the salt had to do with it but at least Hamilton was just as embarrassed about this as he was.

Burr just knew it was one thing to have a human putting their hands all over his tail when they had no idea what they were doing. It was  _ another _ thing to have  _ Hamilton _ running his hands under Burr’s stomach and tying off strips of seaweed. It left him feeling far too touched and uncomfortable. Even Hamilton would feel uncomfortable with a stranger handling his tail so closely - Burr was a  _ shark. _ Nobody  _ ever _ touched him, even casually or professionally. Either his hide was too rough or they were afraid of him to begin with.

The other humans splashed their way back towards them with empty hands and Hamilton had to go fetch more seaweed. The humans stared at him curiously while trying to not look like they were staring. Only the biggest one seemed to actually keep their eyes to themself. Burr sank below the water’s surface tiredly and ignored them all.

By the time all was said and done and everyone stopped fussing over him the sun was risen and shining down, warming his hide. Hamilton whistled something about a nest and Burr didn’t bother questioning it. He let himself be tugged along a short ways until he realized they were underneath a small pier, surrounded by seaweed. Hamilton even had a proper nest curtained off and hidden away.

Burr made note to ask more about that and Hamilton’s flirting later. Whenever he woke up. Which he hoped was never. He just wanted to sleep the rest of his life away, thank you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if it weren't obvious Aaron hasn't even been CALLED Aaron yet and he doesn't call Alexander by anything but his "last name". That's got a lot to do with mermaid culture and names being important and several translation errors and mixups between mermaid and english. ;)
> 
> I love all of you to bits! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!!


	3. Interlude and Background Development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a bit of an insight into everyone's dynamic while Burr finally gets his fucking sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize this chapter would end up entirely just a bunch of bickering and gay shit
> 
> For reference, if you hit google Alex is kind of a cross between a green parrotfish and the queen angelfish, both saltwater fish commonly found in the Caribbean. I will attempt to post some sketches of him at some point but all you really need to know is that he's very colorful and flashy and very much so a tropical fish. His tail's not anywhere as long as Burr's and he's fairly small in general

Alexander swam away from his nest under the dock, glad Burr had no problems passing the fuck out. He wasn’t even aware enough to question the mattress Alex had squeezed under there. Poor guy had just made sure he wasn’t going to sleep in a pile of trash, curled up, and was out like a light.

Alex didn’t blame him.

He remembered getting trapped in storms plenty. The last time ended rather well for him but… the first few hadn’t. He shuddered and flicked his fins sharply, not wanting to think about it. He shot through the water over to the cove’s beach and circled John’s legs.

“Hey,” John’s soft voice filtered down through the water. “Guessing he’s asleep already?”

Alex hummed and lifted his head above the water, grabbing onto John’s shoulders and using them as a prop to lift his upper body out. He linked his hands behind his boyfriend’s head and smiled warmly.

“Mmhmm,” He leaned in and John eagerly joined him with a kiss.

They broke apart smiling when Laf and Herc jeered at them and laughed. Alex let go and swam up closer to shore, John slogging through the waves after him. Herc and Laf were already sitting down in the shallower water, used to this. Alex needed enough water to cover his gills when he needed to breathe and they needed to be able to sit down without the waves knocking them over.

The second John sat down Alex was finagling his way onto his lap, physically affectionate as always.

John snorted and laughed, arms circling him instantly. “I’ve got morning class in about two hours, so I’ll probably leave to go shower and get ready after a bit. How are you?” He dropped his casual tone and frowned worriedly. “Did you reach a safe spot last night before the storm hit? You haven’t slept, have you? Have you eaten?” Alex groaned and pushed at John’s face, slouching. 

“Yes, I got somewhere safe. No, I  _ haven’t _ slept, and yes I ate. Stop being a worrywart.”

“We’re allowed to worry, Alex,” Herc smiled and the couple remembered they weren’t the only people there.

“ _ Oui, _ you are our friend,  _ petit lion, _ and you cannot escape the storm as easily as we can.” Laf fanned verself and Alex snorted at the bugeyed sunglasses ve’d somehow pulled out of nowhere.

“Yeah well, storms do a lot more damage to the land than they do the sea.” Alex laid his head against John’s chest, listening to his heartbeat. “Plus I’m fine. Got shaken up but nothing serious. Spent most of the night talking and nearly getting in a fight with a barracuda.”

“Please don’t get in a fight with a barracuda.” John said while Herc and Laf snickered.

“Are you two going to be hanging around today?” Alex ignored him, making Laf giggle harder.

“I’ve got work, but no, only John’s dumb enough to schedule morning classes.” Herc said. 

“So just me and Laf most of the day? Darn.” Alex sighed dramatically. Laf gasped twice as dramatically.

“ _ Mon ami, _ am I not good enough for you?” Ve fell backwards into the waves, splashing Herc as ve flung vis arm out dramatically. “I cannot  _ believe!  _ After  _ all _ I have  _ done  _ for you! I thought we were  _ close _ Alexander!”

“Buying a private cove and fancy beach house wasn’t good enough for me, Gilbert!” Alex flopped over John and landed his upper body somewhere next to Laf, whining loudly. “I’m high maintenance  _ mon bouclés!  _ Surely you were aware of this?!” John sputtered as he was nearly smacked in the face by Alex’s fins, Herc snickering loudly. “I must have none but the finest of wines, the-”

_ “MAIS TU NE BOIS JAMAIS DE VIN, CONNARD!” _ Laf yelled and splashed Alex, splashing John who proceeded to shove Alex’s tail off him and splash Lafayette back. Alex, yelping and spinning awkwardly, accidentally splashed Herc and the war was on.

Half an hour later they all collapsed into a giggling pile in the shallows, the poor humans shirtless and soaked to the bone. Alex flopped on top of all of them and Herc started complaining loudly about showing up to work smelling like fish. In punishment for whining he was delegated to getting lunch. 

They lounged around on the beach for a while until John sent Alex to go check up on Bur. Apparently when someone had a concussion and was acting suspiciously, it was best to wake them up every now and then and make sure they were coherent enough to speak.

Alex hummed when he peered through seaweed fronds and saw Burr hadn’t moved an inch. He clicked a few times, seeing if Burr would wake up easily, then swam closer hesitantly when he didn’t respond.

_ “Burr? Hey come on, wake up.” _ Alex shook his shoulder and backed away when Burr’s eyes flickered open.  _ “...How are you doing?” _ And award for ‘most awkward conversation starter’ goes to Alexander Hamilton! Burr looked rather confused and blank for a moment before growling and laying his head back down.  _ “Nuh uh uh, I just need you to say something so I can tell John you’re still coherent!” _

_ “Go away.” _

_ “That works! Sorry to bother you, go back to sleep.” _ Alex sped away from the dock and flicked his fins. He hoped he didn’t have to keep doing this all day. Burr might actually kill him.

“I am just saying that you can find another way to ogle your boyfriend-”

Alex popped up from the surf just in time to hear the most  _ hilarious _ of conversations sputter to a halt.

“Alex help! Laf won’t leave me alone!” John covered his slowly reddening face with his hands, Laf snickering next to him.

“You can ogle me  _ any _ time, babe.” Alex posed, one hand on his hips and wiggling his eyebrows. Laf cackled and John groaned.

“Get over here you sexy idiot.” John sighed, pulling Alex into a hug. He cuddled into John’s side happily, humming.

“I hope Herc brings back coffee.” Alex licked his lips.

“As if  _ you  _ need more coffee,” Laf deadpanned. “Is stealing mine not enough for you?”

“You keep getting  _ Starbucks, _ Laf, that  _ isn’t coffee. _ No matter what you say.” Lafayette made several offended sounds but Alex ducked behind his boyfriend’s chest and stuck his tongue out. “I’ll admit the sugar is nice but it’s still not coffee.”

“I bring you coffee almost every morning.” John sighed and shook his head fondly. 

“And it is wonderful and I love you for it,” Alex kissed the underside of his jaw. “But I will take every available opportunity to partake of the drink of the gods.” He declared dramatically. “And I can’t exactly go get some myself.” He flashed his fins.

“Thank  _ god, _ ” John said. “I hate to think of all the chaos you’d cause with legs.” Alex looked mildly offended and John snickered. Laf rolled vis eyes.

Herc got back with Chinese takeout a couple minutes later. Everyone relocated to some rocks so they could set the food down and Hercules brought everyone’s electronics over now that they were less likely to start a splash war. The first thing anyone did was, of course, start blasting surfer music.

“I am literally rich. I could afford actual  _ food _ and yet you all insist on junk food.” Lafayette whined, kicking back and leaning against a rock. 

“Junk food is  _ good _ though,” Alex said through a mouthful of chicken.

“You’re the one eating it.” Herc laughed. Lafayette threw a potsticker at him.

“Uggggh.” John groaned dramatically and put his phone down, shoving his mouth full of fried rice. He muttered to himself until he chewed it enough to swallow. “Martha wants to know why I spend all my time at the beach and yet she never sees me at any beach parties.” He made another series of groans.

“Tell them you are using my private cove,” Laf waved a hand at him dismissively. “Only you and Hercules are allowed.”

“If I tell anyone that I have a rich friend who owns a private beach I will  _ never _ be left alone.” He said, covering his eyes with his arm. “Why do friends have to be so  _ pushy? _ John where do you hang out, John what do you do outside of school, John who are you dating, John John JOHN. Tell us eeeverything about your personal and private life!” He flung his arms out dramatically and fell back onto the rocks.

“Well you have a boyfriend so they can go fuck themselves.” Alex said, patting his shoulder. He twitched and set his food down so he could back up and breathe underwater for a minute.

“If I told them about a boyfriend  _ existing _ they’d bother me for  _ details _ and shit.” John squinted up at the sky. “And then I’d have to step around certain questions or  _ lie _ and y’all know I suck at lying.”

“It was easier in high school,” Herc said with a nod. “Everyone knew we were a tight group and didn’t bother us about it.”

“That’s it.” John pointed at him. “I should introduce you and Laf to everyone. That way they’ll leave me alone about having no friends outside of school!”

“We can have a beach party right here!” Lafayette said cheerfully, ignoring John’s sputtering. “ _ Non, _ listen! You cannot hide everything from your friends forever. Simply…” Laf leaned in, waving vis hand around. “Pretend I am your eccentric sugar daddy.” John made a horrified noise and they heard Alex’s clicking laughter even underwater.

“Well… it  _ is _ an idea,” Herc said thoughtfully, ignoring John sounding like a dying beluga. “And you can’t just… not have friends. I’m content with you guys and Laf’s good at keeping people from actually being  _ close _ to ver, but you’re the true social butterfly here John.” John made a face. “I’m serious! Laf makes friends for the week or night, I don’t really… make friends at all.” Herc shrugged. “You? You’re just too nice and friendly for that.”

“You have always had a hard time with all the secrecy  _ mon ami, _ ” Laf said quietly. “The sugar daddy thing was a joke. The party thing was not. You need to stop hiding yourself away for the sake of keeping Alexander a secret.”

“I don’t want to be the reason you don’t have any friends outside of Herc and Laf.” Alex finally pulled his upper body back up onto the rocks, looking concerned.

“No, Alex, that’s not-” John groaned and scrubbed at his face. “We’ve  _ had _ this conversation before, guys, I just can’t talk to people without running everything through my head a million times to make sure I don’t say something wrong. It’s not anyone’s  _ fault _ it’s just- ugh. My head being stupid.”

“Yeah, that happens to me a lot.” Alex shrugged and pulled himself up to cuddle next to John.

“We keep having this conversation because you listen to us but you never actually change anything you do.” Herc rolled his eyes. “I think a party is a  _ great  _ idea, actually, but there  _ is _ one problem none of you have stopped to think of. We kind of have an injured mermaid sleeping under the dock that we don’t want to disturb.” Laf and John both opened their mouths. “And I  _ really _ don’t think he’ll be happy if we bring a bunch of random humans running around on the beach and making a mess.”

“I wasn’t going to say we have a party  _ tonight, _ ” Laf protested. “Simply… when it is next most convenient.”

“Which we don’t  _ know  _ when it will be, because Burr could just up and leave once he’s better or stick around like Alex did.” Herc pointed out.

“I don’t know,” Alex spoke up. “Burr’s kind of… a loner. Which is odd, because sharks tend to be pod oriented, but-”

“Wait they  _ what? _ ” John sat up sharply and gave Alex a wide-eyed look.

“Sharks are pod oriented? Yeah? Most species, anyways, uh, did humans not know that?”

“NO!” John waved his hands, grinning excitedly. “Or if it IS known it’s not common knowledge, holy shit!”

“Burr’s a loner?” Herc said forcefully, pulling the conversation back on track before John and Alex went on another one of their tangents. You’d think after five years they would’ve ran out of things humans didn’t know about the ocean.

“Yeah,” Alex pouted, giving Herc a side-eyed glare. “I’ve only ever seen him here or there. Usually while out hunting, honestly, though I don’t blame him for that.” Alex made a face. “Most mermaids tend to not like sharktails. There were a couple of really nasty bad ones forever and an age ago and everyone’s kind of held onto stereotypes since.” He rolled his eyes. “So Burr’s probably not going to stick around once he’s healed up.” Alex winced and realized he was getting wheezy. “I’ll have to talk to him about not telling anyone about you guys though.” He frowned as he backed his way into the water to breathe for a minute.

The other three thought about that while Alex caught his breath underwater. They were so used to having to hide things above land on their end that they always forgot Alexander had to hide things  _ underwater _ too.

“So what  _ will _ we do with  _ monsieur  _ Burr?” Laf said.

“Well if he sticks around I think that’d be great.” Herc shrugged. “As much as John needs more friends of his own species, I think  _ Alex _ does too.” John flicked a fork full of rice at him. “Ugh, John!! What is it with you and Laf throwing  _ food _ at me?!” Herc brushed rice off of his shoulder with a small scowl.

Alex surfaced and shook his head, grinning idly at the food fight. “Nah I do good on my own usually. Most mermaids don’t like me because I run my mouth off so much.”

“At least he admit it.” Laf said with a smirk.

“Acceptance is the first step in dealing with a problem, Alex.” John said faux seriously. Alex groaned and laughed.

“Alright jokers, fuck off and finish your food before you have to leave and  _ I _ get it all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed!!
> 
> And yes, I can't actually remember if it's "most sharks" or "only certain species of sharks have been observed doing so" but yes sharks are pod species that have been noted as having close family bonds! We just kill a lot of sharks so we don't know much about them, because the human race treats the ocean and its inhabitants like shit. It's a fairly recent discovery but I don't remember the article I read about it
> 
> If it weren't obvious I am quite the animal nerd and am channeling it through Marine Biologist John Laurens
> 
> (you should google the french. i even got a native speaker to help me with it)

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!! come talk to me or request anatomically correct mermaid art from a distressed zoology nerd


End file.
